Before you ask, no I didn’t cheat. But apparently the exam proctors think I did. They cited “stretching”, “angling of body and hat”, “twitching”, “making eye contact with proctors”, “glancing at my neighbor’s paper”, and “asking to use the restroom when proctors approached” as grounds for suspicion - needless to say I find all of these thoroughly bizarre. Sure, glancing at someone else’s paper could be grounds for suspicion except that it’s simply not true. Looking back I suppose there were times I sat up and looked around the room to take a breather but I’m smart enough to know that copying from your neighbor would be a complete waste of time based on historical pass rates. Something needs to be done about these proctors; I’ve heard numerous complaints. I approached one at the end of the exam and asked why they were looking at me and talking amongst one another; they dismissed it as if I was crazy but apparently each and every curious look I gave their way simply compounded their suspicions.
Anyway, I realize that this is almost certainly the end of my participation in the CFA program. I was bothered by this for about 15 minutes and then kind of got over it. Sure, it bothers me from time to time (hence why I’m writing this) but I actually haven’t even responded to the inquiry yet (although I almost certainly will before the end of 30 days, complete waste of time though I think). I’ve read several other posts on the subject and by almost all accounts, I’m toast.
So, I bid you farewell and wish you good luck. I’m definitely leaving a more educated and knowledgeable person, and with a completely clear conscience. I don’t see the time I invested as being “wasted” as I learned a lot. I’m disappointed I won’t get to take it further as I think level 2 and 3 would appeal to me more than level 1 (took a sneak peak at the material); I’m also just really frustrated I will never know what I scored! Peace.
I think sometimes CFAI goes overboard and start nitpicking. I don’t know about what happened with you and I would not try to make any assumptions/guesses. The best course of action for you would be to present your “side of the story in an honest and logical manner” if you really care about the cfa program.
It’s humanly impossible to not to look around for 6 hours. I was constantly stretching my neck muscles but I made sure that my eyes were never at somebody else’s copy. The thing that could be troublesome is how serious was your glancing at the neighbor’s copy? was it just an unintentional glance or was it gazing? The rest of the things mentioned were all normal imo.
If I am not mistaken, there are many variations of same exams that is distributed amongst the candidates. So glancing and copying from neighbours has higher chance of getting it wrong than plain guess. So it is moot for proctors to even bother candidates with such things.
If you studied your butt off, and you think there’s a chance you passed. why not respond? In my field, silence can be a form of admission. Protect your reputation…
I’m certain the CFAI will compare your answer choices with your neighbor’s. If they already did so before sending you the letter, they know something was up. I don’t know when the CFAI conducts such verification (before/after sending the letters), but better to respond before dropping the ball on it altogether. If you are confident about your conduct, no reason not to respond.
Sadly not true, I read too many stories on here and literally never lifted my eyes from my paper/immediate desk space during each 3 hour session. After the papers were taken and I could look up I thought I was going to pass out.
It’s possible to not look around. Whenever I needed to rest my eyes, I made an effort to look straight up or straight down. I dont’ think there’s any better way to draw the procter’s attention than looking around side to side.
I was sh*t scared after the L2 exam (probably was just worked up reading experiences like the OP’s). I had managed to peek at one of the hot proctors right before turning in my morning paper. Even posted about it in the L2 forum. Some of the measures are draconian, but can’t do anything about it. Live by their rules (till they deploy drones in those exam rooms) or bail.